Washer-extractor having a safety control



Oct. 16, 1962 w. w. R. SEARLE WASHER-EXTRACTOR HAVING A SAFETY CONTROL 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 20, 1961 Oct. 16, 1962 w. w. R. SEARLE 3,058,329

WASHER-EXTRACTOR HAVING A SAFETY CONTROL Filed April 20 1961 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 O\ i I Oct. 16, 1962 w. w. R. SEARLE 3,058,329

WASHER-EXTRACTOR HAVING A SAFETY CONTROL Filed April 20, 1961 s Sheets-Sheet 3 ilnited rates ateat @ihce 3,058,329 Patented Oct. 16, 1962 3,058,329 WASHER-EXTRACTGR HAVING A SAFETY CONTROL Walter William Ralph Searle, Uxbridge, England, assignor to The Hoover Company, North Canton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Apr. 20, 1561, Ser. No. 104,414 Claims priority, application Great Britain May 12, 196i) 6 Qlaims. (Cl. 68-24) The present invention relates to washing machines and more particularly to a safety control for a Washer-extractor to prevent improper operation thereof and consequent damage to the machine and its proper functioning as a clothes washer.

This application is an improvement over an application for U.S. Letters Patent by Frederick Roy Sibbald, Serial No. 104,429, filed April 20,1961.

That application discloses a washer-extractor including a clothes receiving drum or basket rotatably mounted in a non-rotary tub for slow speed rotation for tumble washing operations and high speed rotation in the same direction for spin extraction operations in which an impeller or agitator is rotated within the basket at a high speed in a direction opposite to the direction of rotation of the basket during low speed rotation thereof in order to aid in the washing operation under certain washing conditions.

Control means is provided to selectively actuate the impeller so that it may be used or not as desired during the washing operation.

In order to drive the basket at slow and high speeds in the same direction and the impeller at a high speed in the reverse direction a pair of overrunning pulleys are provided which overrun in the same direction and operate to rotate the basket when rotated in the opposite direction.

A reversible motor and transmission is provided which always drives the two pulleys in opposite directions so that when one pulley is driving the basket the other is freewheeling.

During the period when the basket is being driven at slow speed for tumble washing by the slow speed pulley the high speed pulley is freewheeling on the basket shaft in a reverse direction.

The high speed pulley is utilized to selectively rotate the impeller in a reverse direction. For that purpose an overrunning drive is connected between the high speed pulley and the impeller shaft.

In order to render the drive between the high speed pulley and the impeller selective, means is provided for rendering the drive between the high speed pulley and the impeller shaft inactive by rendering the overrunning drive inoperative and permitting the impeller to rotate along with the basket.

During high speed rotation of the basket for spin tating the impeller is rendered inoperative by the energization of a solenoid.

According to the present invention the solenoid is open circuited during the spin extraction periods of operation.

For purposes of illustration the disclosed structure will be identical with that of the Sibbald application except for the control which renders it impossible to operate the washer-extractor in an improper manner.

The objects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of the washer dryer unit of the Sibbald application partly broken away to show the interior mechanism,

FIG. 2 is a view of the Sibbald machine from the rear and showing the drive mechanism for the clothes basket and impeller,

FIG. 3 is a segmental View of the rear of the Sibbald unit looking downwardly and showing the mechanism by which the drive for the impeller is clutched and declutched,

FIG. 4 is a segmental cross-sectional view of the Sibbald unit showing the details of the drive mechanism, and

FIG. 5 is a wiring diagram of the control of the present invention.

Referring to the drawings and especially to FIG. 1, 10 represents a washer-extractor unit.

The unit 11 includes an outer non-rotary tub .14, a clothes basket 15 rotatably mounted therein and an impeller 16 rotatably mounted in the basket 15 coaxially thereof.

The agitator 16 is driven by a shaft 17 and the basket 15 by a hollow shaft 18 through which the shaft 17 ex tends being mounted for rotation therein by bearings 19 as shown.

The hollow shaft '18 and basket 15 are rotatably mounted in the tub 14- by roller bearings 21 as shown.

A sleeve 26 which, as will presently appear, forms the inner or driven member of a pair of overrunning clutches, surrounds the shaft 18 and is keyed thereto by means of a pin 2.7 as is seen in FIG. 4.

Sleeves 2.9 and 30 surround the sleeve 26 and form bearings for the driving pulleys 32 and 33 when the latter are rotated in one direction and form the central member of the previously mentioned overrunning clutches when extracting operations, in which the basket is driven by the high speed pulley, the overrunning drive between the high speed pulley and the impeller overruns so that the impeller is not driven and merely rotates along with the basket.

If, during such operation, the means for rendering the impeller drive inoperative should be inadvertently operated, a frictional drag would be applied to resist rotation of the impeller along with the basket which is undesirable for reasons which will appear.

According to the present invention the machine is controlled in such a manner that it is impossible to actuate the impeller stopping means during the spin-extracting periods of operation.

According to the Sibbald disclosure the drive for rothe pulleys are rotated in the opposite direction.

The overrunning clutches, one of which is shown at 3 1, may be of any well known type and act to drive shaft 18 in a clockwise direction as viewed from the left of FIG. 4 when the sleeves 23 and 36 are driven in a clockwise direction, and freewheel when the sleeves 29 and 30 are driven in a counterclockwise direction.

As shown in FIG. 4 a plurality of pins 35 extend rearwardly from pulley 33 and extend through resilient bushings in a driving plate 36, drivingly connected to a drive bushing 37 rotatably mounted on a bearing 38 surrounding shaft 17.

A driven bushing 39 is keyed to shaft 17 by a set screw 40 and serves to rotate shaft 17 and impeller 16 in a manner which will presently appear.

The bushings 37 and 39 are of the same diameter and are surrounded by a coiled spring 41 which forms an overrunning clutch of the well known coiled spring type.

The spring 41 is wound quite closely about the bushings 37 and 39 in such a direction that when the drive bushing '37 rotates clockwise the spring 41 unwinds and the bushing 37 freewheels relative to the bushing 39 and the impeller 16 will not be positively rotated.

When the pulley '33 drives the bushing 37 counterclockwise the spring 41 will contract about bushings 37 and 39 to rotate shaft 17 and impeller 16 in a counterclockwise direction, during the period when the basket 15 is rotating slowly in a clockwise direction. The rotation of the impeller 16 during that period is for the purpose of aiding in the washing action during the slow tumbling operations.

In order to make the rotation of the impeller 16 selective, a means is provided for preventing the spring 41 from driving the bushing 39 counterclockwise when the bushing -37 is rotated counterclockwise.

For that purpose the inner or driving end 43 of the spring 41 is turned outwardly to extend through an opening in a housing 44 which may selectively be permitted to rotate freely or to be locked from rotation.

It is obvious that if the end43 of spring 41 is stationary that the spring 41 will unwind from about bushing 39 and there will be no driving connection between spring 41 and bushing 39.

Referring to FIG. 3 a cap 47 is freely rotatable relative to the shaft 17 by a bushing 45 (FIG. 4) and a lever 48 is pivoted to the cap 47 at 49. The lever 48 includes a tab 50 which is adapted to be moved upwardly into the path of rotary movement of a lug 51 extending outwardly from the housing 44.

When the lever 48 is in the position shown in FIG. 3, the housing is free to rotate and the spring 41 will drive the shaft 17 counterclockwise.

When the lever 48 is pulled upwardly by energization of solenoid 53 the tab 50 will move into the path of rotation of lug 51 to prevent rotation of the housing 44 and the spring 41 will unwind and the agitator 16 will not be positively rotated but will follow the rotation of the basket.

When the drive is reversed for a spin extracting operation the spring 41 tends to unwind from bushing 39 so that there is no positive drive for the impeller 16. During such action the frictional drag of spring 41, the frictional drag of the bearings for the impeller shaft as well as the frictional drag of the clothing in the basket on the impeller 16 all tend to rotate the impeller 16 with the basket, which is proper as such rotation will not interfere with the proper positioning of the clothing in the basket 16 for a spin extraction operation.

If, however, the solenoid 53 is energized during a spin extraction operation, housing 44 is brought to rest and the spring 41 is also brought .to rest and its frictional drag on bushing 39 tends to hold the impeller 16 stationary.

Under such conditions one of two things will happen. The impeller 16 will not rotate with the basket 15 which is undesirable or the frictional drag of the clothing will rotate the impeller despite the frictional drag of the spring 41 which is liable to heat up under the high frictional heat developed and render the spring 41 inoperative.

The control arrangement of FIG. is provided to prevent such a contingency.

A reversible motor 54 is secured to the lower part of the tub 14 in any suitable manner.

For washing operations, in which the clothes basket is rotated slowly for tumbling washing operations, the basket 15 is driven clockwise, at a slow speed, by the pulley 32 and for spin extracting operations it is driven in the same direction, at a high speed, by pulley 33.

One end of the motor shaft is directly connected to drive pulley '33 at a high speed by means of a belt 56 surrounding the pulleys 55 and 33.

Th other end of the motor shaft is connected to drive pulley 32 at a low speed and in a reverse direction by gearing 59, pulley 60 and belt 61. Thus the pulleys 32 and 33 are always rotating in the reverse direction and at different speeds.

The remainder of the driving arrangement for the impeller 16 and basket 15 has been previously described.

Referring to FIG. 5, the motor 54 is provided with a running winding 62 and a starting winding 63, series connected with a condenser 64, which also forms an element of the starting winding.

The main winding 62 is connected across bus bars 65 and 66 which are connected to the opposite terminals 67 and 68 of any suitable power source.

A reversible centrifugal switch generally indicated by the reference numeral 69 is connected in series circuit with the starting Winding 63 by conductor 70. The centrifugal switch 69 is of a well known type such, for example, as that disclosed by the U.S. Patent Sprague et a1. 2,586,734.

The switch 69 is provided with a pair of contacts 71 and 72 and a terminal 73, the latter being connected to the conductor 70. When the motor shaft is stationary the terminal 73 is connected to the contacts 71 and 72 by spring arms 74 and 75 biased into contact with con tacts 71 and 72.

In the Sprague et al. arrangement a sleeve is slidably mounted on the motor shaft and is spring biased against the end of a pivoted lever which holds a pair of spring contacts closed against a pair of fixed contacts.

When the motor is started to rotate in one direction or the other and as it speeds up the sleeve is moved away from the end of the arm by a centrifugal arrangement in a direction to permit the spring contacts to move away from the fixed contacts.

Each one of the pair of fixed contacts is connected to the contacts of a reversing switch and to the running windings of a reversible motor. Thus one of the pairs of contacts controls the motor in one direction of rotation and the other pair controls the motor in the other direction of rotation.

As the sleeve begins to rotate it will move the free end of the lever sideward so that only the contacts on the leading side will be opened and those on the trailing side will remain closed.

Thus, the starting winding of the motor remains in circuit with the reversing switch through the trailing contact of the centrifugal switch. When the reversing switch is operated the starting windings are energized reversely and act as a brake to quickly stop the motor and start it in the opposite direction.

FIG. 5 does not show all of the details of the centrifugal switch 69 but the spring arms 74 and 75 are held in contact with contacts 71 and 72 when the motor is idle.

As shown in FIG. 5 and asviewed from the right of the centrifugal switch 69 the motor is up to speed and rotating clockwise. The centrifugal switch 69 has opened contacts 71 and the motor is operating normally in a clockwise direction as described. As will appear that is the washing position of the control.

The reversing switch 76 is provided with five contacts, 77, 78, 79, 89 and 81, and two switch arms 82 and 83 which move together as a unit.

The contacts 79 and 81 are connected to contacts 71 and 72 respectively of the centrifugal switch 69 by conductors 84 and 35 respectively, the contacts 77 and 78 are connected to the bus bars 65 and 66 respectively by conductors 86 and 87, the contact is connected to one side of the condenser 64 by conductors 88 and 89 and to one side of the solenoid 53 by conductors 88 and 90.

The other side of solenoid 53 is connected to bus bar 65 by conductor 91 and a pair of parallel connected normally open switches 92 and 93.

The entire circuit is adapted to be closed by closure of the main switch 94.

In the position shown in FIG. 5 the main switch 94 is closed and the switch arms 82 and 83 are in their full line position connecting contacts 77 and 79 and 78 and 80 respectively.

The main winding 62 is closed across the bus bars 65 and 66, the centrifugal switch 69 has opened contacts 71, 74, the starting windings 63, 64- are open circuited and the motor 54 is rotating clockwise as viewed from the right which is the correct direction for rotating the basket 15 at a slow speed by pulley 32. Pulley 33 is overrunning and driving the spring clutch 41 which drives the impeller 16 at a high speed in a direction reverse to that of the basket 15.

If the program control calls for periods where the impeller should not be in operation or impeller rotation is unwanted either of the switches 92 or 93 is closed to energize the solenoid 53 via conductor 87, contact 78, arm 83, contact 89, conductors 8S and 90, the solenoid coil, switch 92 or 93 and conductor 91.

Energization of the solenoid 53 will thus stop counterrotation of the impeller 16 and the washing tumbling wi l continue without agitation.

During certain operations of a washing program, for example when the tub is being emptied, it is undesirable that the impeller 16 should be in operation. In such case the program control will close switch 92 to energize solenoid 53 and rotation of the housing 44 will stop.

That will cause the spring clutch 41 to unwind and no rotation will be imparted to the impeller 16.

Under such conditions the impeller 16 will follow the rotation of the basket 15, due to contact between the impeller 16 and the clothing in basket 15.

If the operation of the impeller is unwanted for any washing program, such as when washing delicate fabrics, the switch 93 will be closed to energize the solenoid 53 and stop rotation of the impeller in the same manner.

Thus the control of the energization of the solenoid 53 renders the operation of the impeller selective during the tumble washing operations.

After the washing operation is completed, the arms 82 and 83 of the reversing switch 76 are moved to their dotted line position of FIG. 5, while the motor 54 is still rotating clockwise as viewed from the right in FIG. 5.

The starting windings 63, 64 of the motor are placed in circuit via conductor 87, contact 78, arm 83, contact 81, conductor 85, contacts '72, 75, terminal 73, conductor 7i windings 63, 64, conductors 89, 88, contact 80, arm 82, contact 77 and conductor 86.

The starting winding 63, 64 will act as a brake on motor to quickly stop its rotation in a clockwise direction and bring it up to speed in a counterclockwise direction to rotate the basket 15 at a high spin extraction speed.

As the motor comes up to speed the centrifugal switch 69 will open contacts 72, 75 to cut the starting windings 63, 64 out of circuit and close contacts 74, 71 ready for the succeeding motor reversal, the line being open at contact 79 of the reversing switch 76.

During such reverse rotation of the motor 54, the basket 15 is being rotated at a high speed in a clockwise direction by pulley 33 while pulley 32 is freewheeling.

The spring clutch 41 is rotating clockwise in a direction to unwind the spring from about bushings 37 and 39 and no rotation will be transmitted to the impeller 16.

However, the frictional drag of the spring 41 on the bushing 39 tends to rotate the impeller 16 at the same speed as the basket 15 as do the clothes in the basket 15 engaging the impeller 16. That is a proper operation and as it should be as it prevents interference with the proper distribution of the clothes in the basket for spin extracting operations.

Under such conditions, should the solenoid 53 be energized, rotation of the spring will be stopped and its frictional drag will tend to prevent rotation of the impeller 16 with the basket 15. As previously pointed out, such a condition is an improper operation of the machine and may cause damage to it.

According to the present invention and referring to FIG. 5, it will be noted that the circuit through the solenoid coil 53 is open circuited at the contact 80 of the reversing switch 76 when the arms 82 and 83 are in their dotted line reversing position.

Thus even though one of the switches 92 or 93 should be inadvertently closed, the solenoid 53 would not be energized to stop rotation of spring 41 and the improper operation of the machine during spin extraction operations.

From the foregoing it can be seen that the present invention provides a simple control for a washer-extractor unit which prevents improper operation thereof during spin extraction operations.

While I have shown and described but a single embodiment of my invention, it is to be understood that that embodiment is to be taken as illustrative only and not in a limiting sense. I do not Wish to be limited to the particular structure shown and described but wish to include all equivalent variations thereof except as limited by the scope of the claims.

I claim:

1. In a washer extractor, a rotatable basket, an impeller rotatably mounted in said basket, means for rotating said basket at a slow speed for washing operations, means for rotating said impeller at a high speed in an opposite direction during slow speed rotation of said basket, selective means for rendering said impeller rotating means operative and inoperative, means for rotating said basket at a high speed for spin extracting operations, that improvement which comprises means preventing operation of said selective means during high speed rotation of said basket.

2. In a washer extractor according to claim 1 in which said impeller rotating means includes an overrunning clutch which imposes a frictional drag on the rotation of said impeller when rendered inoperative.

3. In a washer-extractor according to claim 1 in which said selective means is solenoid actuated, and said preventing means includes means preventing actuation of said solenoid.

4. In a washer-extractor according to claim 3 in which said preventing means comprises means for open circuiting said solenoid to prevent actuation of said selective means.

5. In a washer-extractor, a rotatable basket including a shaft for rotating said basket, means for rotating said basket shaft including low speed and high speed overrunning drive members on said shaft which overrun in the same direction of rotation, means for rotating said members in opposite directions and at different speeds so that when one is overrunning the other is driving said shaft, said slow speed drive member being operative to rotate said basket at a slow speed when driven in one direction While said high speed member freewheels at high speed in the opposite direction, a rotatable impeller, means including an overrunning clutch operable to drive said impeller from said high speed drive member while it is rotating in said opposite direction, selective means for rendering said overrunning clutch selectively operable or inoperable during the slow speed rotation of said basket, means for reversing the direction of rotation of said members whereby said basket is rotated at a high speed in the same direction by said high speed drive member and said slow speed drive member overruns, that improvement which comprises means'for rendering said selective means inoperative during high speed rotation of said basket.

6. In a washer-extractor according to claim 5 in which said overruning clutch between said high speed driving member and said impeller is of the coiled spring type which contracts about drive and driven bushings to rotate said impeller and in which said selective means com prises means for holding the driven end of said spring against rotation to cause said spring to unwind from about said bushings to render it inoperative to drive said impeller.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,968,174 Bell et a1. Jan. 17, 1961 

